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Common Tern

Sterna hirundo

Laridae

Tom Younkin — Adult in breeding plumage

Common Tern by Andy Morffew is licensed under CC BY 2.0 — Long wings row through the air

Kevin Lapp / Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (ML107750231) — Searching for fish over North Cove

Common Tern diving by CarolineG2011 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 — Expert in plunge-fishing

Common Tern with Fish in Beak by U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Northeast Region is marked with CC PDM 1.0 — Male uses fish in courting female

Common tern dance by USFWS Headquarters is licensed under CC BY 2.0 — Aerial courtship dance

Common terns by U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Northeast Region is marked with CC PDM 1.0 — Pair chooses nest site together

Common Tern by Fyn Kynd is licensed under CC BY 2.0 — Parent very defensive of nest site

Great Gull Island, NY by U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Northeast Region is marked with CC PDM 1.0 — Clutch usually 1 to 3 eggs; 6 eggs here from two nests

Sterna hirundo (Linnaeus, 1758) - Common Tern, Charrán común by JoanRoca is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 — Precocial chicks fledge in 25 days

Jason Major — Voracious chicks also fed squid, crustaceans, large flying insects

Adult-sized fledgling still being fed

File:Sterna hirundo -Nantucket National Wildlife Refuge, Massachusetts, USA -adult and juvenile-8.jpg by Amanda Boyd of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters is licensed under CC BY 2.0 — Fledgling strengthened for migration to southern South America

Juvenile common tern by Greeeny is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 — Juveniles may be fed during migration

File:Sterna hirundo -Massachusetts, USA -juvenile-8.jpg by Greg Schechter is licensed under CC BY 2.0 — Parents may feed young on wintering ground

Species account to come.

For more information:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Tern

https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/common-tern

George B. Salter Memorial Grove
461 Narragansett Parkway
Warwick, RI 02888

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